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My Favourite Carrot Cake - The Brick Kitchen
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time
1 hr 50 mins
 
Dean Brettschneider's Farmhouse Carrot Cake with my own cream cheese icing.
Course: Baking
Servings: 10 -12
Author: Claudia Brick
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
  • 200 g plain flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 170 g white sugar
  • 170 g dark brown sugar (regular brown sugar works too)
  • 275 ml vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
  • 150 g grated carrot
  • 90 g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
  • 70 g canned crushed pineapple (drain the pineapple in a sieve first to remove most of the liquid, then weigh it)
Icing
  • 250 g Philadelphia cream cheese (the lite version works just as well as the full fat, if you want it a bit healthier)
  • 1/2 cup icing sugar , sifted
  • 1-2 teaspoons very finely grated lemon zest , depending on your taste
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence of paste
Topping: dried apricots, pumpkin seeds and poppy seeds; another favourite combination is chopped pistachios and dried rose petals
Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease nad line a 20cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.

  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, mixed spice a cinnamon into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix for one minute on slow speed, then scrape down the sides and mix for another two minutes on medium speed.

  3. Pour into tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

  4. Leave to cool in the tin for half an hour before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. For the icing, in a small bowl combine the cream cheese, sifted icing sugar and lemon zest. Mix vigorously until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust the lemon and sugar to what you prefer. If the cake is not yet cool, you can put the icing in the fridge until ready to use.
  6. Spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake and decorate with the dried apricots, pumpkin seeds and poppy seeds (or any other nuts and seeds of your choice). Serve with natural yogurt or on its own.